E-Quality Matters

Make Mine John Deere --

I walked into the bookstore yesterday to find a big "Women and Money" display at the front door. Books by Suzie Ormond everywhere. It made me think that corporate America had finally caught onto women's economic and financial power -- a force which has been sorely overlooked by marketing departments, nonprofits, and political campaigns alike for decades.

Perhaps we women don't always feel so powerful. The Maine Women's Fund launched its Economic Security Initiative to address the economic needs of women across the state PRECISELY because women are disproportionately affected by financial trends -- we make less money than men in equivalent positions; our medium income is significantly lower; and single women are more likely to live in poverty.

Our financial standing, however, may not be the same as our financial power. We make over 80% of all financial decisions (household and personal). (Guess who buys the most lawn mowers per capita? That would be us, ladies -- a trend that Home Depot has picked up on, leading to "Do It Herself" workshops, clinics, and products.) We control half the wealth in the country. We provide over 60% of all social investments -- giving to more organizations than men. More interestingly, a chunk of our financial power lies in our willingness to recommend products and services -- we're twice as likely as male customers to make referrals. Lisa Witter and Lisa Chen wrote a great book on the subject titled The SheSpot: Why Women are the Market for Changing the World and How to Reach Them. I highly recommend it.

The incongruence between the reality of our financial standing and our understanding of our financial power is what makes for interesting conversations when it comes to women and money. January -- chock full New Year's resolutions and post holiday spending -- is a fine time to explore one of the most taboo topics for women: Money. Please join us in expanding the dialog:

·         How does your relationship to money impact your life?

·         What do you pretend not to know about money/finances?

·         How do women create more of what they don’t want when it comes to money?

·         How is the wage gap a metaphor for women’s relationship to money?

·         How does money impact our desire and ability to affect change?

 

Budget, Budget, Budget: A Path to Economic Security

Rebecca Matthes, Guest Blogger

So, you just graduated from college and are now living on your own for the first time. Or maybe you recently went through a divorce or broke up with your significant other. Or maybe you just had a baby. There are lots of things that happen to us over our lifetime that we tend to get excited or stressed about. The amount of money we have sometimes adds to that excitement or stress. Making some kind of budget is an important, and responsible, action that will help you feel more in control of your life.

Yes, a budget! Although a seemingly boring and tedious task, knowing how much you make and how much of that you can and should spend on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis is information that will assist you to plan accordingly with life’s everyday expenditures – big & small. What? You say you don’t have one or need to make some changes to your current one? Then maybe you’ll benefit from advice on CNNMoney.com. Although advice on the topic of budgeting is abundant, this website has come up with Money 101 Lessons. In Lesson 2, Making a budget, listed are 10 top things to know when creating your financial plan. Some of those include:

· Budgets are a necessary evil

· Don’t drive yourself nuts

· Spending beyond your limits is dangerous

· Beware of luxuries dressed up as necessities

 
Another resource that may be of help is using a budget worksheet. There are plenty of versions to choose from on the web. There’s one from Fidelity Investments that you can use. It will help give an overall view and understanding of where your money needs to go and will give you a better idea as to where you stand financially.

Once you create a budget, the next step is to stick to it.  Let's talk about that next time.  For now get calculating!

Getting Poorer

There are moments when ideas, concepts, or stark reality hits me like a ton of bricks. I guess this could also be referred to as the proverbial light bulb or the "aha" moments that bring clarity to life. But when it is bad news, I think it feels more like a ton of bricks.

We've launched our economic security initiative and the goal is to reduce the incidence of asset poverty amongst women and girls. Asset poverty is a pretty technical, and ugly, term -- but it refers to household's inability to access wealth resources that sufficiently provide for basic needs over three months. Its a good term to describe how so many Mainer's live -- not quite in poverty, but ultimately vulnerable to loss of income because they don't have the assets, or wealth, that leads to increased economic security, or provides a buffer in times of hard ship. Households lacking sufficient assets are forced to live paycheck to paycheck and face economic hardship when changes in income occur.

Part of the driving force is behind the initiative is that, according to the most recent census, poverty in Maine is actually increasing. This is astonishing because it is decreasing almost every where else in the country. But not in Maine.

So here's the other bad news. Most families hold the majority of their assets in their homes. So while the the housing market crashes down around us, there are two dynamics at play. Many folks are losing their assets when they lose there homes. For the rest of us, when we lose the value in our homes, we are actually getting poorer.

This is bad news for a state that is already seeing increases in poverty.

Increasing poverty and incremental growth not OK

The Portland Press Herald today led with news from the US Census and a headline that made you think there was good news. Statewide, total poverty is down 0.3% from last year (from 9% to 8.7%). Anybody else think that an incremental decrease in poverty, a decrease of only 0.3%, is actually not good news? Who else wants to see the numbers go down by at least a whole basis point???

In addition, we saw a decline in median household income (we decreased an estimated $700 from last year, we're $5000 lower than the national figure, and we're one of only 11 states to show declines in median household income last year). The other bad news is that both nationally and in Maine, rural poverty continues to increase and Maine was only one of five states where the poverty rate among rural children increased 5% or more.

Finally, regarding the report on median income, men in Maine earn a median income of $40,116, women earned a median income of $30,338 -- a $10,000 gap is not to be taken with a grain of salt and most certainly requires action.

These trends mirror the anecdotes we heard during our listening tour -- Maine isn't seeing any vast improvements in the economic seucrity of its families, and women continue to be hit harder than the rest. Across the state, 64% of women headed households (including everyone from new grads launching into the to 'real world' to single mom's leading the charge for their families) are asset poor -- meaning, if their income were to disappear today, they don't have enough of a financial safety net to cover three months of expenses. And in Maine's economy today, it could take well over 3 months to find a new job. Unfortunately, necessity often means that women take jobs in the average to low-income sectors. According to Women, Work, and Community, cashier (a low waged position without paid family leave, sick leave, or health insureance) is the fastest growing job opportunity for women.

There is a lot to be done for the economy and for women's economic security. Investments in entrepreneurship, financial literacy and asset building, and better jobs are all proven strategies for decreasing poverty for women and in doing so -- decreasing poverty for entire families and communities.

What is the Maine Women's Fund going to do about it? Firstly, I'll be coi -- and tell you to join as the October 29th Evening to Honor Maine Women and Girls to find out.

Secondly, I'll tell you a bit about last night. In order to address the economic or other issues we face, the Maine Women's Fund must be tapping into the ingenuity and creativity of women and girls across the state. This is especially important given the rural indicators we see in today's paper. While the Maine Women's Fund has always been open to proposals from around the state, it hasn't had the leadership and resources in place around the state to sustain long-lasting change for women and girls.

This is changing.

Last night, while enjoying the natural beauty of the Penobscot River, we introduced the Advisory Council for the Greater Bangor Chapter. The purpose of the Advisory Council is to ensure that the region has the resources and leadership to bring services, programs, grantmaking, and other resources to women and girls across the region. It is also to bring the creaitivity, ideas, and ingenuity of the region's women to benefit all of Maine. This year, we'll be launching Chapters in the Portland area, greater Lewiston/Auburn area, and midcoast. If you'd like to get involved in this expansion, let me know.

ME Women Showing Their Stuff

While we talk about changing Maine for its women and girls, its important to also recognize the important achievements women across Maine are already making. The Portland Press Herald is a good place to start. Reading the morning regularly gives me a snapshot of who is making waves as (to steal a term from my favorite online platform) Fab Females. I hope through E-Quality Matters, we can begin to capture a bigger picture from across Maine.

But in today's news...

Carmen Cherry of Camden was hired as a structural engineer at Gartley & Dorsky Engineering and Surveying in Camden. Cherry has more than seven years of experience in engineering, construction and research. Go go women in non-traditional occupations!

Molly Susla, a fifteen year-old from Freeport , has won a spot at the Summer Biathlon World Championships in Estonia. Summer biathlon is similar to the winter variety in that athletes must complete a race course that includes stops every so often to shoot a .22-caliber rifle at five targets. Instead of skiing, however, summer biathletes run the course. Molly won a local race while at camp, enabling her to place for the Championship!

In news late last week...

Gabrielle Machionda, Mad Gabs, is focusing on expanding her business, building on a platform of strong social values.

Ten year old Samantha Hebbs saved her grandmother from drowing in Lebanon Lake.

Say a little Woo Hoo for Girl Power!

Flexible Workforce Blog

Just came across an interesting blog, "Flexible Workforce" that hosts discussions about women, parenting, and the workforce. Discussion topics range from making flex hours work to working at home.

Worth checking out.

Alone in the Bathroom

As women, we have a long tradition of adjourning to the ladies' room together, and most of us are no stranger to the long lines you often find outside the women's bathroom. This is why it is so difficult to imagine a woman alone in the bathroom and why Judy Groth's perspective on being the lone woman in male dominated workplace is ... surreal:

"It was the first time I've never had to wait in line for a bathroom. The first time I found myself alone in a bathroom. I realized I missed the back channel communications. I realized that business gets done here, networks are formed, and I missed not having the commraderie."

Judy now runs her own business, Groth and Associates, a successful financial planning firm in Bangor. But her experience is still common through out Maine, and particularly common in the greater Bangor region, where women are increasingly studying and working in traditionally male dominated arenas, particularly the STEM industries.

Judy, and 40 other women, shared their experiece at the Maine Women's Fund discussion, "Creating a Competitive Environment for Women in Business." Held at Husson College, this is the second discussion in the series, geared at ascertaining what it will take to attract, expand, and incubate women owned businesses in Maine, as a strategic approach to building Maine's whole economy. The third conversation will be held later this summer in Lewiston/Auburn. We hope that targeted initiatives will emerge from these discussions, and the Maine Women's Fund is pleased to be partnering with Maine & Co and Maine Center for Creativity to drive these initiatives forward.

At Tuesday's discussion, a few key themes emerged:

• While the number of women studying in STEM programs has increased, the "pipeline is leaking," says Sharon Barker at the University of Maine Women's Resource Center, "and women are dropping out of those industries later in their professional life cycle."

According to Erika Libby, a chemical engineer and founder of New Forms Builidng the Systems, Inc., the problem is a lack of professional role models and mentors in these industries. "Women engineers excel in school where there is an enabling environment, but once they get out into male dominated work force, they are unprepared for the cultural impacts on their day to day. Work is no longer fun." When the work culture is unbearable, companies are no longer able to unleash the talent and passion of their employees, a critical problem according to Matt Jacobson, President of Maine and Co., who believes that "cracking the cultural nut will create a niche opportunity for attracting more women entrepreneurs and business leaders to Maine."

• Along the cultural vein, women entrepreneurs -- though common across Maine -- face a problem with self-esteeem and are simultaneously afraid to fail and afraid to succeed. Maine isn't competing in the national market not because it isn't good enough but because it isn't trying. It's afraid to fail. According to Alicia Nichols, there is a "big contradiction between what we learned as children -- failing helps you learn -- and what we learn as adults -- failing is bad. We need to start distinguishing between failing and falling in order to keep us learning and keep us going."

Panelist Deb Newman also noted that women entrepreneurs are more likely to undervalue their businesses -- despite the blood, sweat, tears, and money they often poor into them. "Pride in their product and businesses is often missing, especially among women born and bred in Maine. It is a self-confidence issue.

The discussion also surfaced tactical needs. Women entrepreneurs need support in succession planning. Health care and benefits, discussed in Portland, remain a critical issue preventing small business from competing and growing in the national market. While other states benefit from collective buying power, Maine's small businesses have yet to figure out how to reduce the costs while increasing employee beneifts. Founder of Kappa Mapping and panelist, Claire Kiedrowski, talked about the burden of transportation. To build business outside of Maine, Claire often has to travel to Portland or Boston in order to save hundreds of dollars on air fare. Travel out of Bangor is too unpredictable.

Finally, it became clear that even large regulated utilities like Bangor Hydro need competition and benefit from attracting like business to Maine. "The economy hurts everyone, including us," noted panelist Karen Redford from Bangor Hydro. "Five years ago, we needed to cut 50% of our workforce because of the economy. New businesses not only help us remain competitive they support our employees and they support our operations. We need new business."

These discussions are part of the Women Standing Together program at the Maine Women's Fund, that has convened like minded women in business and women entrepreneurs to support the economic development of women and girls across Maine. Traditionally, the group has served as a giving circle and their combined donations have contributed to our economic development grants. In the last few years, the group has invested over $80,000 in these programs.

Women in the Workplace

Great discussion last night, hosted by the Maine Women's Fund and the Women's Law Section, about women in the workplace. Sarah Staniford, Rebecca Webber, and Kim Simmons -- the three panelists -- set the context for the evening discussing the policy framework that supports or denies equality in the workplace and our continuing battles with descrimination (professional and cultural).

Because I'm a huge fan of innovation I was struck by a new model discussed by Sarah. California and Washington State are both experimenting with a new method for financing PAID maternity leave for EVERYONE (regardless of their company policy, company size, etc). I'm sure most people know that the Family Medical Leave Act guaranteed 12 weeks (at the federal level) unpaid maternity leave -- 10 weeks here in Maine. A guarantee of a job is important but most normal folks can not afford unpaid leave. While some companies will provide short term disability or have official paid maternity leave policies -- those companies are few and far between.

In the model introduced in the West, all regular employees contribute $.01 from each pay check towards an insureance fund. The fund is aggregated, invested, and used to cover the cost of 12 weeks paid maternity leave for all employed citizens. I like this model because somewhere deep down there is a recognition that society benefits from investing in moms and children. I also like it because in any model, the money has to come from somewhere and this is a transparent and accountable financing strategy.

I'd like to see Maine innovating at this level for women and girls (and I'd like to see MWF investing in it) -- where are our innovators and leaders?

This discussion was the second of four discussions co-hosted by MWF and the Women's Law Section. From conception to death, law fundamentally shapes the ways women lead their lives. This exciting series of panel discussions is exploring how our legal system creates and limits real-world choices around our work, our children, our relationships, our health and our financial security. Our next discussion will be in September -- check back to our Web site for further details.

Women Driving Change

Following up on April's Women Standing Together event -- Creating a Competitive Environment for Women in Business -- we've aggregated a few resources available for our entrepreneurs.

The idea that women entrepreneurs can be a driving force of Maine's economy is the brain child of Jean Maginnis, founder of the Maine Center for Creativity.Women entrepreneurs in Maine own more than 50% of small business, employ more than 70,000 people, and generate more than $9 billion in sales. Additionally, women owned businesses are the fastest growing segment of the national economy.

Jean recognized a potential opportunity -- because women start and build businesses differently than men, because they look at different criteria when identifying start-up locations, and because we already have a cluster of women entrepreneurs, we have the opportunity to create a niche market for attracting and expanding women owned business here in Maine.

Together with Maine and Co and the Maine Women's Fund, Jean has been exploring how to realize this opportunity. The April 25th discusssion in Porltand surfaced the need for better resources.

We are expanding the conversation to Bangor with an event June 26 -- check back here soon  for more details. In Bangor, we'll dive deeper in to the conversation about how we can attract, expand, and incubate women owned businesses to and in Maine.

We hope you'll join us.

Women Standing Together...in action

Before we left for Seattle (where we are attending the Women's Funding Network annual event... more on that later), we hosted the first Women Standing Together Breakfast of 2007. Women Standing Together is a group of women in business who pool their membership fees to support economic security programs through the Maine Women's Fund. Collectively -- they have given over $50,000 to help Maine's women and girls. Twice a year the network convenes to learn more about the issues and hear from grantees. This year, the disucssion was a bit different. While out on our listening tour, the role of women in business and women entrepreneurs was a repeated theme. "Women have always been in business so their husbands can farm,' said one women in Orono. Women are 51.5% of the population in Maine, own 63,000 businesses, employ 75,000 people, and generate $9 billion in sales. Nationally, women owned businesses are the fastest growing form of the economy. As far as economic actions goes, women are in the hot seat. Economic development is a sure way of creating a bright future of women and girls -- especially when the economic target is women, because when women prosper, whole communities thrive. It became obvious that our women in business have the potential to create far more than just grants -- they are role models for girls to aspire to and they are wealth and job creators. What if we could create an environment that made it easy for women entrepreneurs to take off and succeed, as well as help Maine become a niche market for women in business? That was the subject of our Women Standing Together breakfast. The breakfast was co-hosted by two other stakeholders -- Maine Center for Creativity that is dedicated to supporting the creative economy and Maine & Co. that is dedicated to creating new jobs and businesses in Maine. The breakfast created a lot of ideas and energy and a few key easy-to-fix needs emerged from the conversation. While Maine is plentiful in resources for women in business, finding those resources is difficult. Each individual women had individuals that had helped them in an instrumental, but there was lacking a regular network of women or the ability to share networks. The Maine Women's Fund is committed to pushing these ideas further into action. We intend to take this conversation to Bangor and Lewiston/Auburn to build a stronger network and more ideas to help us further build an enabling environment for women in buisness. We intend to convene these groups a few more times to enhance networking opportunities. And we intend to react to the a few of the great ideas that can help Maine truly own and celebrate the power of women in business.